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After all the deductions, he took home only Rs 1. The said farmer, is now worried as to how he will pay his loan.

Updated: Sep 10, 2018 17:28:56

By Shrinivas Deshpande

Prices of fruits and flowers will witness an increase in the next few days as well.
(Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

A farmer from Pune district has claimed that he earned only Rs 1 from the sale of 370 kilogrammes of tomatoes at the Vashi market in Navi Mumbai. According to the farmer, Santosh Jagtap from Saswad, the fall in tomato prices is already taking a toll and like him, several other farmers have got a ‘raw deal’ despite a bumper crop this season.

“I sent 370 kg of tomatoes in 17 boxes through a truck to the Vashi-based Agriculture produce market committee and received Rs 3.60 per kg rate. According to it, I got Rs 1,332, but at the same time by deducting the other costs involved, I just got Rs 1 and it is very disappointing,” said Jagtap.

According to the bill given to Jagtap, tomatoes were sold for Rs 1,332. Out of these earnings, the transport charges took away Rs 850, labour charges were Rs 144.50, Rs 255 was the bardana charges, Rs 76.50 was paid for weighing charges and Rs 5 was the postal charges, through which the bill would be sent to farmers.

After all the deductions, he took home only Rs 1. The said farmer, is now worried as to how he will pay his loan.

“I was expecting at least Rs 5-8 per kg rate because tomato rates are good in the retail market. However, I was disappointed after receiving such a deal,” Jagtap said.

Jagtap informed that he took care of his produce and watered the tomatoes at the time of load-shedding. Forget the profit, he was unable to recover even his expenditure of growing tomatoes.

There were no comments on this from the Vashi Market Yard.

However, Sadabhau Khot, minister of state for agriculture, said,“Actually prices of commodities are decided by market forces, it is true that in this season prices of tomatoes collapsed because of large number of farm produce.”

The Jagtap family has four members and all are dependent on agriculture and cattle rearing business. But such low prices for their farm produce will make it difficult for them to depend upon agriculture in the near future.

Festive demand triggers rise in flower, fruit prices

With the festive season setting in, the price of fruits and flowers have started increasing and may see further rise in the next few days.

Maharashtra’s largest ten-day Ganesh festival is just three days away and during the festival, the demand for fruits and flowers goes up. On Sunday, prices of pomegranate, papaya and Sapota (chiku) witnessed a hike. As far as vegetables are concerned, prices of peas and potatoes increased while prices of green chilies witnessed a downward trend.

However, prices of tomatoes are now decreasing after weeks of constant rise. “Ahead of the festive season, we have witnessed low arrival of vegetables to APMC Pune. Hence, there is a possibility of an increase in prices of fruits and vegetables in the coming days as due to the festive season, the demand will increase,” said Vilas Bhujbal, president of Chhatrapati Shivaji market yard traders' and agents' association, Pune.

On Sunday, APMC Pune received 160 trucks of vegetables. Prices of beans increased from Rs 500 - Rs 550 per 10 kilogrammes to Rs 600 - Rs 700 per 10 kilogrammes. In the same way, because of low supply, prices of potatoes increased from Rs 100 - Rs 130 per 10 kilogrammes to Rs 150 - Rs 200 per 10 kilogrammes. On Sunday, pomegranates were sold at Rs 50-Rs 75/kg against Rs 40-Rs 60 earlier. Similarly, Sapota (chiku) and papaya were sold at Rs 300- Rs 700 per 10 kilogrammes and Rs 10-Rs 25/kilogrammes respectively. However, prices of green chilli started declining and settled at Rs 150-Rs 200 per 10 kilogrammes.